In early November I submitted four illustrations to a call out by Reading Room Projects to illustrate a Brother’s Grimm Fairy Tale. The brief called for 2-4 illustrations per story and required a lot of thought as to which story to enter as the well known ones would likely attract a lot of entries.
After sitting with my copy of the complete Grimm collection I stumbled upon ‘The Fisherman and his Wife” and noted that a lot of that story takes place by the sea. This, I felt, would play into my advantage due to my previous work with seascapes (as seen in my Shipwreck Series of 2012).
I set about making my illustrations, the first depicts the fisherman catching the fish in the first instance. As per the book, I made the sea as clear as possible. The gorgeous deep blue was made with brusho and the sky with ink and bleach.
The second depicts the Fisherman’s first return to the sea, on request of his wife, to have the freed Fish Prince grant her a wish. As per the book the colour of the sea has changed and become green.
Illustration three depicts the shock felt by the Fisherman on return from yet another wish-granting trip to the Fish and his discovery that his wife is now Pope.
The final image shows the Fisherman’s final encounter with the fish. As per the book, the sky has darkened and the sea has turned black.
I chose the keep the figure of the Fisherman as a silhouette throughout my illustrations as a reminder that it is not his identity that we should be focusing on but rather his actions and how we can learn from them.
Click on an image for a full version of the illustrations.
I was recently notified that my illustrations had been selected for inclusion in the book. As one would expect, I am thrilled and delighted to have been chosen.
The book, Eclectically Grimm, is a 96 page collection of Grimm Fairy tales with 45 illustrations by several artists. Stories included are (with illustrations by):
The King of the Golden Mountain- Carys Fletcher
Jorinda and Jorindel -Anna Tromop
Briar Rose -Lucy Hirst and James Falciano
The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage -Rose Wilkinson
The Valiant Little Tailor -Dennis Markuss and Jon Williams
The Fisherman and his Wife -Larry Walker-Tonks and Emily Morey
The Wolf and The Seven Little Kids -Yael Maimon
Lily and the Lion -Sage Cotignola and Elizabeth Blades
Snowdrop -Emily Hallett and Paul Taplin
The Seven Ravens -Anastasia Bolinder
Old Sultan -Nora Yanagisawa-Ilcsik
The Willow-wren and the Bear -Else van den Hooven
The Queen Bee -Petya Tomova
Little Red-Cap -Ruth Grace Estipona (R-GIE)
Book cover for Eclectically Grimm.
If you look carefully at the cover you may notice that the background is taken from my final illustration.
The book is priced at £10.99 and should be available by the end of November through Emma’s Attic Publishing.
I’m certainly looking forward to getting my copy!
Larry
Larry Walker-Tonks 